Something that Bothers Me at Gigs

I had the words "SMILE !" written on the top of my pedal board which cured my issues with not looking up and not smiling. It was an instant reminder.

I wear shades on stage too - more a health and safety thing for me because I kept poking myself in the eye with my talk box pipe. The best shades I found so far are non-polarised ones so they don't make the FC12 mini displays go all weird. The ones Ive used for years now (and replaced many times) are BLOC Model F138 Cat 3.
 
People aren't there to hear the perfect solo you played or the tone you spent hours perfecting. They don't care if you used the right guitar or amp model They are there to hear music they know, sing along, tap their foot, dance and see a show. That's part of being in a cover band, make it fun for them too. I have told many a band mates to remember to smile and have to remind myself as well.
You can still do all those things you are about, but don't expect 90+% of the crowd to care. Your job as a musician hired to play a cover show is to make people enjoy themselves.

At least that is the way I look at it, I take pride in the fact that we nail our harmonies or really kill a song, but more pride in the fact that we had the crowd up and moving and they had fun.

YMMV
 
KevinP said:
I take pride in the fact that we nail our harmonies or really kill a song, but more pride in the fact that we had the crowd up and moving and they had fun.
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That’s a great way to look at it too. A happy crowd returns to the venue and is more likely to spend money and that makes the venue happy which should make them want you back. It’s a good cycle to be in.

I always enjoyed playing the songs that’d “get the womenz to dance”. When the dance floor is filled the energy goes up and feeds on itself.
 
I had a friend in the early 2000s - he had a slight underbite, which made him look like he was thrusting his chin out in an aggressive way - this guy got into more bar fights than anyone I ever met for doing nothing - his natural look just rubbed folks the wrong way. Lesson? Be aware of how your “normal” might influence others and affect audience reception.

I had a Kendo sensei back in the 90s - he smiled all the time while he easily kicked my ass. I asked him (politely) why he always smiles during practice - he said “if I don’t, I scare children”.

Back in the 70s there was a blues player who would come through my home town - some of his stuff was really energetic - rock infused. He wasn’t a leaper, no gymnastics, but when he wound up for a lead break, he would just step back from the mic and begin to rock back and forth staring off into space as the meditation took over. That movement and what he was playing (of course) were enough to grab and hold the attention of everyone in the room.

And then there was Rush - you don’t have to move to be a rock star.
 
Romo82 said:
Yep, when i first started out in bands years ago i had a various people telling me i need to "move around more" on stage and do the stereotype, leaping up and down all over the place. As i told them, I'm far more focused on playing the music well and not sounding like a heavily shaken drunkard. Don't get me wrong, I didn't stand stock still and stare in to the void. I'd let fly when the time was ripe but when people sacrifice playing ability for the sake of launching off every monitor in the house, i just cant help but shake my head.
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The Beatles were told "Mach shau!" when they were in Hamburg. I guess every band or musician has to put up with the preconceived notions of what people think playing music looks like....
 
SJB said:
I had a friend in the early 2000s - he had a slight underbite, which made him look like he was thrusting his chin out in an aggressive way - this guy got into more bar fights than anyone I ever met for doing nothing - his natural look just rubbed folks the wrong way. Lesson? Be aware of how your “normal” might influence others and affect audience reception.

I had a Kendo sensei back in the 90s - he smiled all the time while he easily kicked my ass. I asked him (politely) why he always smiles during practice - he said “if I don’t, I scare children”.

Back in the 70s there was a blues player who would come through my home town - some of his stuff was really energetic - rock infused. He wasn’t a leaper, no gymnastics, but when he wound up for a lead break, he would just step back from the mic and begin to rock back and forth staring off into space as the meditation took over. That movement and what he was playing (of course) were enough to grab and hold the attention of everyone in the room.

And then there was Rush - you don’t have to move to be a rock star.
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Exactly! I used to get told all the time when i was a young man "Oooh you should smile more and not frown all the time" or something to that effect. If i walked around smiling all the time, I'm VERY confident people would be more unsettled with that, than my resting-grump-face.
 
Sorry for the long boomer story.

I played more NYC area bars than I can remember. While the band names were always the same the players rotated between different bands depending on who was available.

I played way more gigs on bass in those days as everyone wanted to be a guitar god. Me and my best friend who played drums usually got booked together because we were a tight backbone for any band. Calls I got were usually checking if 'we' could play a gig.

Remember, these were bars, not concerts. Late into the night we played extended versions of songs and would bring a groove up to a peak then back down as players soloed over the changes. Here was the thing, me and my friend would always have a fantastic time, playing around with the groove, making inside jokes, picking out a person in the audience to 'play to', and made bets on who would get up and dance or not, etc.

At one point after a way fun gig the bandleader mentioned that when we played with him he noticed people stuck around way longer that usual. I laughed and said 'that's because we're so good, right?' He said it's because you guys look and play like you're having a great time. The band loves it, and then the crowd has more fun, and the bar owner loves it because people stick around longer.

I think my point is that the crowd picks up on the energy of the music and the musicians. You don't need to have a party onstage but whatever you express gets communicated to the audience.
 
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The interpretation of baseline smiling is definitely a cultural thing as well. I know of a couple personal situations where we give friends/relatives from another culture warm friendly smiles and they regard us as being simple-minded in return: "Why do you smile like an idiot?". :tearsofjoy:
 
People would and maybe still do talk about Derek Trucks not being more emotional when he's playing. And here I'm thinking that if they listened with their ears rather than their eyes they'd hear some of the most transcendant emotive blues rock guitar playing ever put into the world. Further, if they truly paid attention they'd see him laughing and communicating joyfully with his bandmates all the time. OTOH, showpersonship can make all the difference in the right context, but I've never personally cared much about it. I like music. The rest is either bonus or distracting, but I'm not the average listener/clubgoer.
 
NY Guitarist said:
Sorry for the long boomer story.

I played more NYC area bars than I can remember. While the band names were always the same the players rotated between different bands depending on who was available.

I played way more gigs on bass in those days as everyone wanted to be a guitar god. Me and my best friend who played drums usually got booked together because we were a tight backbone for any band. Calls I got were usually checking if 'we' could play a gig.

Remember, these we bars, not concerts. Late into the night we played extended versions of songs and would bring a groove up to a peak then back down as players soloed over the changes. Here was the thing, me and my friend would always have a fantastic time, playing around with the groove, making inside jokes, picking out a person in the audience to 'play to', and made bets on who would get up and dance or not, etc.

At one point after a way fun gig the bandleader mentioned that when we played with him he noticed people stuck around way longer that usual. I laughed and said 'that's because we're so good, right?' He said it's because you guys look and play like you're having a great time. The band loves it, and then the crowd has more fun, and the bar owner loves it because people stick around longer.

I think my point is that the crowd picks up on the energy of the music and the musicians. You don't need to have a party onstage but whatever you express gets communicated to the audience.
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But you can still do all that without smiling. I can do a lot of “stage fun” things but not smile, but the “you need to smile more” is what always found it’s way through
 
Playing the guitar and performance are entirely separate things. I have to remind myself to smile and engage. If you look bored and are boring to watch, people will focus their attention elsewhere. Like the band across town who look like they’re having fun.
 
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